Election Manifesto highlights tourism value to regions

Priority actions for the incoming
Government to support the tourism industry’s goal of
contributing $41 billion a year to the economy by 2025 have
been unveiled today by the Tourism Industry Association New
Zealand (TIA).

The Tourism 2014 Election Manifesto
outlines six priorities for the new
Government:

• Support Tourism 2025
goalsPrioritising growth opportunities
identified in Tourism 2025 where the support of the incoming
Government is needed to make
progress.• • Recognise and promote
tourismKeeping the industry at the centre of
political and public attention will be important in building
on the gains achieved in the past three years and delivering
value to the New Zealand economy. Safeguarding our
international reputation is also
crucial.• • Improve
infrastructureWhile New Zealand’s natural
environment provides the setting for a range of visitor
experiences, quality infrastructure is needed to support the
range of activities that visitors
enjoy.• • Enable sustainable
tourismTo be sustainable – environmentally,
socially and economically – we must protect and enhance
the environment on which tourism businesses depend, win
support from local communities, and address regional
dispersal and seasonality
issues.• • Make travel
easierContinued efforts to make it easier and
safer for people to travel to and around New Zealand is a
key to unlocking visitor growth from target markets in Asia
and the Pacific Rim.• • Get the
workforce rightBeing able to employ people with
the right skills and in the right locations is critical to
growing the value of the tourism sector and its contribution
to the economy.• The Manifesto also highlights new
statistics that show tourism’s contribution to employment
in each region of New Zealand, as well as how much visitors
spend in each region.

“Tourism already earns $24 billion
each year. But it has the potential to contribute even more
to our economy,” TIA Chief Executive Chris Roberts
says.

“Earlier this year, the industry unveiled an
ambitious goal to double total tourism revenue (including
domestic tourism) to $41 billion a year by 2025. The
industry-led framework Tourism 2025 is seeing businesses,
large and small, aligned around a shared set of goals to
grow the economy,” he says.

“So the industry is taking
charge of its destiny, but we can’t do it alone. The
Government’s recognition of the importance of the tourism
industry is to be applauded, but to maximise tourism’s
growth potential and its essential contribution to New
Zealand’s overall economic and social well-being,
continued support is critical.”

The new regional tourism
employment and spend figures paint a really clear picture of
how the tourism economy benefits every region in the
country, and will be incredibly useful in helping TIA
members show their local Parliamentary candidates and
decisionmakers the value of the tourism economy, he
says.

A copy of the priorities is being mailed to TIA
members as well as election candidates.

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